Man’s Robe with Short Sleeves

Dapho is a men’s sleeveless coat, which is also called tapho, taphol, and deogeure. It was worn in the Goryeo period, and favored by the king and the upper class in the Joseon Dynasty. After the mid-Joseon period, seonbi, or Confucian scholars, also came to wear the sleeveless coat, and it was worn by governmental officials over juui (outer robe) as a ceremonial attire toward the end of the Joseon period. Dapho varied by the shape of its collar: a Y-shaped collar was evident until the 17th century, consisting of a deeply overlapping, double-layered collar with side folds, and was worn as an inner or outer garment by governmental officials. Symmetrical-collared dapho has a collar but no sleeves or short-sleeves, and appeared after the 17th century.